4 pose as circle office staff, dupe locals; held

Guwahati: A team of officers from Sonapur police station has arrested four fraudsters for allegedly impersonating circle office staff and extorting money from citizens under the pretext of providing assistance with land-related matters.Police have identified the miscreants as Riyajul Islam (22), Saiful Islam (26), Mojamil Haque (40), and Istaqul Hussain (21) from Tezpur city, in Sonitpur district. Sonapur OC Manoj Baruah said they have recovered eight phones from their possessions and placed a hold on the mule accounts used. The accused were arrested from Tezpur’s Borghat locality on Saturday night.Explaining their modus operandi, the OC said, “These persons have been operating for a long time.

They collected money under the guise of a circle office service worker, calling victims and claiming they would help them in land-related matters. They then charged amounts through online transactions. However, those who paid later discovered at the circle office that the identities claimed by these miscreants did not exist.

”Speaking to TOI, the officer said they received a complaint on Tuesday, from one Motleb Ali, a resident of the Kachutoli area. “The accused demanded money over a month promising to assist him in land registration. The informant transferred a total of Rs 17,260 over multiple transactions. The accused then became unreachable,” he said.A case was registered on Saturday at Sonapur PS under relevant BNS sections.